72 Seasons

While promoting Metallicas 11th album, Lars Ulrich claimed 72 Seasons was "maybe the most friction-free record weve ever made," which is a fair assessment of the LP. Never before has Metallica seemed so comfortable being Metallica, embracing their identity as a collective and letting each member play to their strengths: Ulrichs drums are pushed forward in the mix, Robert Trujillo roams wild with his bass, Kirk Hammett gets plenty of room to solo, while James Hetfield processes all hes learned in therapy. Hetfield provides the hook that holds together 72 Seasons: the title derives from the passing time during the first 18 years of life, the period when a child becomes a man. The album is filled with meditations on mortality and morality, Hetfield looking back on his raising with clarity, not anger. Theres a sense of purpose in Hetfields storytelling thats mirrored by Metallicas dedication to keeping 72 Seasons thick and heavy. There are digressions -- theyre a natural side effect of a group that composes their tunes by stitching together riffs and movements, turning individual songs into mini-suites -- but there are no slow moments, there are no ballads: the entire record barrels forward at an advanced clip and crushing volume. Its heavy but its not grimy or gritty. Metallica are old pros at this point, so they favor clearly articulated production, and they know how to reserve their energy so they play for endurance, not speed; even when this comes close to thrash tempos, the band never threaten to give themselves over to abandon. The clarity of the production makes it easy to admire what Metallica achieve with 72 Seasons -- this is a maturation that never sacrifices their integral characteristics -- yet hearing every bit of Metallica all at once can be a little exhausting, particularly as the album creeps well beyond an hour. As carefully constructed as this is -- there is no element out of place, no moment of embarrassment outside of maybe the concluding riff of "Shadows Follow" slightly suggesting Neal Heftis Batman theme -- its difficult to discern how 72 Seasons couldve been tightened, yet its hard not to wish that it was about a third shorter: the force wouldve had a greater impact if it wasnt quite so diffuse. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

鋭さと深みを兼ね備え、聴くほどに引きずり込まれる傑作である。デビュー40周年の節目に出た12枚目のアルバムは、前作に続いてグレッグ・フィデルマンとジェイムズ&ラーズの共同プロデュース作。第1弾シングル"Lux Aterna"はNWOBHMを彷彿とさせる疾走曲で原点回帰を匂わせたが、全体像はそう単純ではない。瑞々しいパワーと円熟の演奏力を融合させ、絶妙なバランス感覚で鮮烈なメタリカ像を構築。重心の低いグルーヴィーな曲調を随所に挟みつつも、メンバー4人の溢れんばかりの熱量が大きな推進力となり、ラストまで緊張感をキープし続けている。恐るべきヴァイタリティーに脱帽の一枚。
bounce (C)荒金良介